JACKSON, MI - Those who put in the time and energy Saturday, Oct. 5 will reap the benefits tomorrow. In this instance, the tomorrow isn’t until April.

More than 40 members of local lions clubs gathered Saturday morning at Ella Sharp Park to plant daffodil bulbs in a plot of land along W. Hickory Avenue for the 19th annual Daffodil Day.

All together, the group planted about 3,300 bulbs Saturday, Oct. 5, which was about 900 more than last year’s efforts.

“The Jackson County Daffodil Society has been planting large drifts for Cascades and (Ella) Sharp parks to help beautify Jackson,” said Chris Lake, vice president of the Daffodil Society. “The lions clubs have a mission of site conservation and serving the community to make it a better place.”

Before they began, Lake explained to the lions club participants that they were building a 30 to 40 year legacy. She added that future plans for the park will have a running/biking trail the runs past the drift.

The four clubs in attendance were the Jackson Host Lions Club, North Jackson Lions Club, Jackson Eye Openers Lions Club and Vandercook Lake Lions Club.

Daffodils have been the flower of choice for 19 years because they are deer resistant and last for more than 15 years, Lake said. Participants planted yellow Ringtones, white Princess Zaides and white and yellow Ice Follies.

Lake said she hoped to break last year’s record of 22 minutes, but was satisfied with the results due to more bulbs and less helping hands this year.

The group, made up of mostly retirees, needed about 40 minutes to bury all of the bulbs. The process involved digging six to eight inches into the dirt, placing a bulb into each hole, and patting the dirt back down.

Paul Brencher, the Daffodil Society’s president, has been helping plant on Daffodil day since the tradition started 19 years ago.

“We do it mainly to beautify the parks,” Brencher said. “I like to see the color coming up in the spring – it really brightens the area until the leaves come back. It’s a great community project and it involves the people.”

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization, with 46,000 clubs and 1.35 million members across the world, according to the Lions Clubs website.